Thursday, March 31, 2005

Some good news mixed with bad news

I have my computer back=good. The drive was shot in a fluke situation they had never seen before and the data was unrecoverable without sending it away to California and spending thousands of dollars=bad. I lost a lot of episode 3 progress=very bad. I'll be able to rebuild some scenes I had done earlier and saved on another disk and will re-edit the rest=sucky=miller time. All of this still looks doable for an April 15th launch. Though we will not release anything official yet.

The good news is we have a full slate of filming set for this weekend. That's right, three days of production on Webisode #4! Yay. I'm stoked. Actually everyone is very excited about getting back to the heart of the show, filming. The script is good and the cast and crew are pumped. That makes Dan smile. Production starts with a 7pm call time tomorrow night and will wrap Sunday at 5pm. Stay tuned for updates and pictures! We'll try to post something every night.

Monday, March 28, 2005

Gmac is down, I repeat gmac is down!

Well this day went downhill fast, my beautiful new G5 editing computer was KO'd by something last night and the main drive is not responding anymore. Not good. I dropped it off at the local Apple gurus office, and when I told him the problem he said "well that's distressing". Not the type of thing you want to hear. Good news is it's still under warranty and he's fairly certain he can save all the data. Bad news is he's not 100% certain and I'm going to lose about 4 days of valuable editing time. Crap. This means in all estimates Webisode #3 launch date will probably be April 15th. Sorry everyone, but computers will be our mortal enemies from time to time.

Sunday, March 27, 2005

New look and stuff

We decided to change up the look of the blog because, well change is good...yeah, that's it. We wrapped filming on webisode #3 yesterday although we have a few fill shots to get this week. Hopefully we will have an announcement later this week of the launch date, it will either be April 8th or April 15th. Our EA store will be up online shortly as well, Volume 1 DVDs are done and we're working on t-shirts, buttons and stickers, so there's that. Stay tuned!

Friday, March 25, 2005

The White House Marketing Machine

The political stream is one based on proposals, public mood and focusing points. To get your agenda passed, you need the support of your colleagues, the right timing, a built-in base support and a well organized campaign to win over at least a majority of the public. Winning public opinion for certain policies is a tough sell requiring many speeches, events, advertising, it's like selling a product. Sadly that's politics. And if you can't quite make the sell, it goes down in defeat like Clinton's Universal Healthcare, his first big proposal in office. But the Bush Administration is giving creativity and ingenuity a new name, "propaganda". That's a harsh word I know, but can you really call it anything other than that. First off are their infamous "town hall meetings" with the President traveling the country meeting with the "people", interacting to hear their concerns. Except that's not what it is at all, the forums are packed 100% with pre-screened supporters, and the average Americans up on stage are hand picked and go through rehearsals the day before. It's theater, the Bushies know what is best and rather than listening, they are going to put on a charade until you come around. Next is the paying of what are supposed to be independent "free press" journalists like Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher. Both pushed Bush agendas because they were paid to by your tax dollars, are you hearing the warning bells, yet? Let's continue. We can't forget the Gannon/Guckert White House correspondent fiasco, presumably planted to ask softball questions in briefings to bail out the press secretary. Gannon's credentials were incredibly shady at best and we all know now, that is putting in mildly, so how did he get in when others bloggers are continuing to be denied? And when all else fails, when the news isn't going your way, just make it yourself. That's right the various departments (Defense, State, Education, etc.) from the White House direction have producing their own news reports with fake actors, fake reporters and fake narration and making them available to local news stations to play as part of their local newscast! Can you hear Paul Revere coming down the street? This doesn't surprise me about the Bushies, but for a local television Producer to accept and program for free, a fake news report produced by our government, passing it off as news, is incomprehensible. Just some things to think about.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

More SXSW Pics

Wendy taught me html in five minutes so I have a basic photo gallery of the EA cast and crew fun in the sun in Austin. Lara's pics coming soon. We'll have the official link on the "behind the scenes" page in a bit, but for now to view the pics just click here.

Monday, March 21, 2005

SXSW wrap-up

Back in O-Town, so sad, Austin again treated us so well, nobody wanted to leave, good times, hell great times. We saw about 25-30 movies during our 8 day stay, and alcohol consumption is still being tallied. I have some pics, Lara has way more, plus I'm still getting the hang of posting pics to the blog, so hang with me, I'm not quite sure what I'm doing. We did some good promotion, and we have a big push coming in a few weeks to hype the two new episodes coming out in April so hopefully all goes well. I won't make my post too long because I have some pics so I'll just say these were my top five films, be on the lookout and try to see them if you get the chance:

1. The Edukators
2. The Education of Shelby Knox
3. Love Comes To The Executioner
4. Occupation Dreamland
5. The Puffy Chair


Dan and Al Franken.

Sunday, March 20, 2005

And in EA related news...

Some good news and bad news:

GOOD NEWS:
*Webisode 4 production is underway (see entry "EFF STARBUCKS").
*Got lots of good promotion for EA done in Austin, TX at SXSW when we were there.

BAD NEWS:
*There will not be a webisode released in March.

SANDBAGGED GOOD NEWS SO THIS ENTRY ENDS POSITIVELY:
*There will be two webisodes released in April.

We're just waiting on one scene for ep3 to be shot which should be done in the next week or so. The ep4 production calendar is out to everyone so we should have ep4 done by mid-April. Guaranteed.*

that is all.
sc.













*These are guarantees until further notice when we go back on our promises, but tell you about it first so we seem more trust-worthy.

Scott by Scottwest

Lamest title evar, but whatev. Also as a side note, I was excited when I saw Dan's entry had three comments. Then I realized Givani had double posted a comment alledgedly after drinking, then I noticed Rick commented (Hi Rick) so that's something, right?

Still tired after rolling into the Big O at 3am this morning. Who'd have thought that leaving Austin at 10:30 am wasn't early enough still. GD TX/OK traffic at the Red River for leaving us at a standstill on the interstate for ONE AND ONE HALF HOURS. Oh well, we're back now.

Let's see... I got to Austin on Monday, so everyone else had a couple days on me. I made up for it with by catching a grand total of 20 films in 4.5 days. Luckily I kept my film journal so I could keep them straight.

Instead of going through them one by one, I'm just going to talk about my favorites. It will be here you notice the difference in tastes between Director Dan and myself. So here they are, my five-star movies (a dubious distinction, given others' view of my tastes):
(in no order)

1) The Fearless Freaks: Brad Beesley's portrait of the Flaming Lips. Really wasn't a huge fan of the band before the movie (I like "She Don't Use Jelly," like any blue-blooded american boy my age), but I found myself completely enthralled in this film. I'm not an expert in docs, but it seemed there was a very loose thesis, but what it lacked in focus, it more than made up for in great moments. This film is worth seeing if only for one scene, as someone in line told me (and I agree). As she said, I won't tell you what scene, but if you see this film, you'll know the scene when it comes. At any rate, to fulfill a blog cliche, I am currently rocking out to the Lips' "Yoshimi battles the Pink Robots."

2) Southern Belles: A comedy about two trailer park girls (neither being Hilary Swank) and their dreams of getting away to fulfill all of their dreams in that Southern Heaven, Atlanta. Initially went to this film because of warm feelings I have for actress Anna Faris (I hope she reads this...), but this was a hilarious film (and Anna rox). This film really reminded me of the lost art of sight gags. Again, Judah Friedlander brings it. This guy rocks, I just hope he doesn't get a sitcom someday, because his character work is bomb.

3) Hooligans: At first glance, this movie didn't really sound like something I would be into. An american lad goes to England and falls in with a gang of soccer fans. By gang I mean Gang. These guys could whoop a camel's ass. Some real brutal terrifically shot fight scenes. I actually like Elijah Wood in this movie (in comes the wrath of the Hobbits), but the heart of the film was Charlie Hunnam as Pete (watch for this guy, he's going to be huge). Funny, sad, and very powerful. As a side note, the film was directed by Lexi Alexander, while there is a big deal made about women directors, this chick rocks the house. The guy that introduced her said she "had balls." I agree. I have to. She's a champion kick-boxer. Seriously, though, great film. In the words of Joe Boro after the movie, "I wanna pick a fight now." That explains my black eye and ruptured duodenum.

4) The Devil and Daniel Johnston: Dan saw a lot of political docs, I stuck mainly to the music docs. Daniel Johnston is a singer-songwriter who did a lot of time in Austin, where he recorded most of his underground tapes. Arguably most famous for the cover of his "Hi How Are You" tape cover, which was reprinted on a t-shirt that Kurt Cobain wore everywhere, including on the MTV video music awards (the same year Krist Novoselic threw his bass in the air and clocked himself in the head). A truly tragic film that really deals with the things that kept Daniel Johnston from being that star that Kurt Cobain is now considered. Great film.

5) The Education of Shelby Knox: The only politcal doc I saw. Story of a high school girl (the aforementioned Shelby) and her struggle to change sex ed curriculm in the Lubbock, TX school district. Really captured the spirit of what Dan and I have been trying to do with EvansAmerica. This issue is also something that I had wanted to do something with someday for our own show (guest starring Shelby herself????). The Q&A was pretty cool as the filmmakers brought out Shelby herself to take questions. Shelby got more questions than the filmmakers did.

6) Kissing on the Mouth: This movie has really stuck with me. (I did only see it two days ago, but in a span of time where you see that many movies, that's something, right?) Largely improvised, it's the story of four post-college "friends" and their relationships. While this is a pedestrian-sounding premise, it was dealt with in such a realistic way that it really sets itself apart. The way in which the film was made is just as facinating. It was made by four friends/directors who served as cast and crew. Very DIY, very liberating to think about as a filmmaker. Terrific film, but if you do hear about it will most likely be for the graphic/realistic manner that sex is dealt with. It's a film about sex, but it manages to get beyond "gimmicks" such as full-frontal nudity and touch, albeit slightly inconsistently, real emotional truths.

7) Steven Tobolowsky's Birthday Party: A truly indescribable film. Filmmaker Robert Brinkmann decided to make a film about his friend actor Steven Tobolowsky (IMDB him, you know him), but instead of doing a documentary in which friends attribute to how cool of a guy Tobolowsky is, Brinkmann has Tobolowsky tell his favorite stories as he does things to prepare for his birthday party that night. A really great snapshot of who this man is and what he means to his friends.

Those were my top films. Other favorites:

-The Puffy Chair: An incredibly funny movie. Perhaps the funniest movie I saw that week.
-Dead Birds: The best-looking film we saw that week. I thought "May" was the best-shot horror film I'd ever seen. (May is a better overall movie, but that's another entry...) Oh, both were shot by Steve Yedlin, so that explains it.
-The Roost: Good homage to midnight movies of the late 70s/early 80s. The short "Dos Blokes" that preceded it was brilliant.

And others, but this entry's getting out of control, so I'm ending it here. I'm out. I'm sure Danny Boy will have some wrap-up as well.
late.
sc.

Friday, March 18, 2005

This is ridiculous

Paul Wolfowitz can not, I repeat, CAN NOT, be head of the World Bank. Due your research if you don't believe me, but trust me, this man can not be in charge of the finances, loans and debt of the third world. Write you Senator or Congressman, this is unacceptable. Trust me.

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

SXSW Days 4-6

Finally get a chance to blog again, it's about 4am here in Austin, most of the cast and crew are out in the Gazebo still drinking the night away and singing Irish pub songs they picked up. The last three days have been incredible, let me repeat, incredible! We've seen so many damn films it's ridiculous, we're spending about 10-12 hours a day in theaters. First EA promotion update and then some highlights of some of the films for those who care. Plenty more cards passed out, and a few more DVDs to some journalists we've met and normal folks who seem well connected, or at least say so trying to impress. The big news however is Dan's success in getting a copy of the show into the hands of Al Franken! He taped a live interview for Texas Public Televsion to promote the AirAmerica stations that are launching. I was nervous as hell to approach him and stick a dvd in his hand, but he was a really nice guy. He might just throw it in a pile never to be seen, but who knows, at least I got it there, and that's all I can do on my end, the rest is up to blind luck.

Onto the films, alot of these have recently been picked up for distribution, which means you should try your hardest to see some of these, well worth it, get out of the Hollywood rut.

*The Edukators - Wow. Just an incredible film, German or Austrian, I can remember at the moment. Reminded me of what were trying to accomplish, three friends who create political rebellious statements in rich suburbs when one goes terribly wrong. Flawless acting, cinematography, score, everything, it was all superb, across the board. I don't care if you like subtitles or not, you need to see this film!

*Occupation: Dreamland - One of two Iraq war documentaries at SXSW, and I must say it was not what I expected. I have not yet seen Gunner Palace but from the trailer this differs in alot of ways. Straight up cinematography, nothing fancy, just photo journalism at its basic level. Which is not bad at all, it worked, and it fit with the mood of the film. The most surprising however, it had no biased whatsoever. There was no manipulation with the editing, at all, truly an honest look, and I would know what a liberal documentary looks like, trust me. That being said it does nothing but crush your spirits for what lies ahead for our soldiers and the Iraqi people.

*Waterborne - Film I was really looking forward to and I wasn't dissapointed, really kick ass digital cinematography. Lot of post always help too, so props to the editors. The film is about several interwoven stories during a terrorist attack on the water supply of L.A. Great cast helped make the film seem way less low budget than I'm sure it was.

*Deadbirds - The midnight show we just saw a few hours ago, we were exhausted but decided to catch it and I'm so glad we did. Here's the scenario, a group of outcast Confederate soldiers during the Civil War rob a bank and then hide out in a big abandoned plantation house, and oh yeah it's haunted by these half man half werewolf skinned creatures. Yeah. Crazy. Frickin awesome though and fun as hell.

These were just the highlights, we've seen a lot of films it's hard to keep track right now cause I'm so tired. Scotty is keeping detailed notes for future reviews, though we split up today and went to different films and only met up for Deadbirds, but oh well.

One more blog coming on sunday probably to wrap up the trip, we're all wishing we would never have to leave, but the show must go on.

out.

Sunday, March 13, 2005

SXSW Days 1-3

Thursday & Friday: We left for Austin around 8pm and drove all night, (somwhere in Oklahoma, when Boro and Dan, the only two up, decided maybe the overnight trip wasn't the best idea). Rolled into Austin about 11am, got some sleep at our hotel and headed to The Wendall Baker Story premiere. Wilson brothers were there as well as mf'n Harry Dean Stanton. Well shot and very funny film, lots of fun cameos. Came back to the hotel and passed out from exhaustion.

Saturday: Refreshed and ready to go, passing our EA cards like crazy, and by that I mean plastering them on every wall and lightpost, Dan gave one to a cracked out homeless lady along with a dollar, and Givani gets the gold star for most passed out, (by handing out all the guys who hit on her).

Films we saw today:

*Max & Grace - Dark comedy by this first time director, great ensemble cast. Enjoyable.

*Cavite - Incredible film shot mostly in the Phillipines. Tense thriller that was able to capture the culture, poverty, and roots of terrorism.

*Enron: The Smartest Guys in The Room - Absolutely incredible documentary. Beautifully shot, well edited, great drama. The amount of emotion it was able to bring out of the crowd was incredible. It really made you hate corporate america and the free market even more, and do something I didn't think was possible, make Gray Davis look decent. Amazing.

*Jesus is Magic: Sarah Silverman's standup, brutally funny, just no holds barred, she's not afraid of touching any subject. We have some good pics of Wendy and Lara with Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman and Brian Posehn as soon as I get them off my camera. Good times.

Talked with Adam Schwartz, one of the writers of My Big Fat Independent Movie for a while, good guy, shamelessly passed our cards out to him. Went over to 6th street to hit the bars, got our drink on and are now passing out one by one in the hotel. More to come.

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

What's new with EvansAmerica

It's hard to believe a year ago, EvansAmerica was just notes in Scotty's notebook, and through all the setbacks, working in the middle of the country on zero, I repeat, zero of a budget, this show is a reality. Not only is it a reality, but it's very alive and doing very well. We are off to a great start out of the gates, the character shorts and the first two webisodes are already up and traffic has been more than we hoped for the site only being up two short months. We have received a number of requests for DVDs of the first two webisodes from college groups around the country wanting to screen the show at their next respective meetings. They were just mailed out last week, so hopefully all goes well with that. We are spending March filming new webisodes and embarking on our second big publicity and marketing push. A group of the show's cast and crew are heading down to the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas this Thursday for 10 days of networking and promotion of the show, while catching some great films and hopefully finding some time to relax for once. We will continue to try and blog during the trip, granted all goes well with the internet situation. The site will be getting some updates very soon as well. New behind the scenes videos and pictures, production journals, cast diaries, the unveiling of a message board and much much more, all coming soon. Plus, to fill your fix. TWO ALL NEW WEBISODES OF EVANSAMERICA COMING IN APRIL! The saga continues. Thank you for your support.

Sunday, March 06, 2005

EFF STARBUCKS

This is going to be the most timely entry I will ever write. Unless somehow, we develop the technology to hook blogger.com up to my brain and allow me to blog as I think. People may get a different view of me as I would be unable to censor my thoughts. It would also out my Debbie (or is it "Deborah?") Gibson fetish.

...but I digress....

Today, we shot at MJ Java's in downtown Omaha. Re-read my title and you will see how much they rock in my eyes. Props to Darren and Christina (apologies for name misspellings) for hanging out and selling us coffee on your day off.

First we shot the opening scene from episode 3 with virtually the entire cast in a rare truly ensemble scene. Really got to see the EA chemistry in full effect. It's something that we don't get to see enough, but it really came through today. Ann, Chelsie, Lara, Givani, and Branden showed no rust, not that they would, but we haven't all shot together since maybe October(?). (EA needs a historian like View Askew has... If you want to be EA historian, send Dan an email. Pay's great, just ask anyone we've worked with.)

Shooting went on without any foolish beats. Thanks to our luxuriously large crew (FIVE people!! I kid not.) We had Director Dan on camera, Chris on sound, Greg on dolly, newbie Justin Brink on lights and yours truly on...

well...

Um... I watched the monitor. A lot. It was like a normal Sunday afternoon for me. I also ran slate. That's important I guess. Without me, they wouldn't have been able to know what scene and take number they were on. I swear I'm intregal to the production of this thing. I'm not just a pretty face.

The second half of the day was spent in the presence of the greatness that is Bill Wassem. I know this is kind of a mild spoiler, but bear with me. I can't just speak in vagarities the whole time, though I can speak in vulgarities a lot...

This post has been edited for content. And for being the WORST JOKE EVER.
thanks- Gods of the Internet.

So, anyways, Bill was there to shoot a scene from ep4 with Givani. Again, both people were prepared and brought it. Needless to say, the luxuriously large five-person crew got served (saw'd?).

LSS: Bill rocked. Givani rocked. I get lost in your eyes. Production of Ep4 has started.

Which brings me to my next point. Episode 4 is where shit really starts to happen. Eps1-3 have been good get-to-know-you eps, but now that we've established our players we can really get down to business. It's not cool to say because we're a good amount of time away from unleashing this baby (oh no, we're not merely releasing this one...) . The EA family has expanded with the addition of Tyson Sevier and Rick Pecararo to our massive stable of writers. Not to get pretentious, but it's like the first time new parents leave their kids with a sitter. (note: I'm totally the Dad in this analogy. Totally.) Only in my dreams could the script have turned out better. Anyways, before this gets sappy, I, for one, was really pleased with the way the script turned out, obviously.

Damn, I thought I could get six "appropriately" used commas into that sentence. Oh well. Next entry, I guess.

Anyways, if you're still with me at this point, thanks for reading. Tune in next time where I briefly write about EA and then blabber on about stupid crap out of the blue.

love,
scott
the electric youth

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